Uttarakhand: Congress becomes largest single party

New Delhi,
Wed, 07 Mar 2012NI Wire

Riding on the waves of anti-incumbency congress won 32 seats out of 70 seats and became single largest party but it could not achieve the magic figure of 36 that is required for the majority. The incumbent BJP is just behind with 31 seats. The incumbent chief minister B C Khanduri lost Kotdwar seat by 4,632 votes to congress candidate Surendra Singh Negi. Khanduri's defeat has surprised party workers and senior leaders.

Even after this win congress needs the support of 4 MLA's to form the government. Meanwhile Harish Rawat hopes to get support of three independent MLAs. Mantri Prasad Naithani, Harish Chand Durga Pal and Dinesh Dhanai. The congress leaders of the state said that as these leaders had left the party when they were denied tickets, these independents are willing to return to the party.

BSP has also won three seat and one seat is won buy UKD(P). It appears that BSP, UKD (P) and Independents will decide the fate of the government.